Many African countries, including Kenya, have lost cultural objects to European and American museums through colonialism, war, political conflicts, stealing, smuggling etc. These Important historical objects have cultural and emotional significance to the people to whom the objects originally belonged. When these objects are linked to important events in the history of a people, they become even more culturally significant.

 

Cultural and heritage objects provide access to a country’s history and is the foundation for cultural and social identity. Therefore, the identity of a nation is inseparably bound up with its material culture and especially objects of worship which evoke society’s concepts of reality. 

 

People in Africa and Africans in Diaspora are seeking to enrich their lives by being connected to their roots and their past to give meaning to their present. Some choose to be involved with museums as guardians of cultural heritage with each object acting as a marker to the society’s connection with the world. 

 

The Ken100 project is run and organised by the Nakuru Environmental and Cultural Trust (NECT).

NECT supports the international agreements regarding the theft and illicit trafficking of cultural goods enshrined in the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. 

 

Please contact us urgently if you feel any of the objects that we have shared in relation to the project may have been stolen or trafficked.

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See further: https://www.unidroit.org/cultural-property 

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Nim Njuguna 

Founder - Nakuru Environmental and Cultural Trust